Chord bluetooth - puzzled after Bristol show

[AlmaataKZ]

my experience was the opposite:

the guy at Naim was very friendly and very open, we discussed a lot about how things work (or don't), compared different products (even if not Naim), which way things are going re music playback etc.

the Chord guy just did not want to talk business, I mean he did talk a lot but avoided any sensible explanation of any statements that he made - slippery, confusing, puzzling.

 

[AlmaataKZ]

http://www.a2dp.info/Newsflash/Chord-Electronics+APTX=A2DP.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apt-X

So which apt-x version is implemented in ipod touch and in the gem???

 

[peter@57m]

Don't know if anybody still watching this thread but anyway..

I today received a Chardette Gem which supports APT-X running over A2DP bluetooth. Its an upgrade from a Gem I have been using for a few weeks which had A2DP but not APT-X. Chord are only just rolling this out.

I too was at Bristol which is where I saw the Gem being used with an iPod and Sennheiser dongle. The Sennheiser dongle also supports APT-X. The APT-X connection should support 16 bit / 44.1 Khz, so CD quality. (the Gem can support 24/96 via USB)

The Gem with APT-X sounds great, the previous version had compressed, grainy highs and poor base definition.

I store music as Apple lossless on the iPod. Playback is thru passive pre, Linn Klimax Twin and Wilson Benesch speakers. The streamed sound quality is quite amazing. I love this solution as you don't have to have a PC or NAS drive running, you just sit with the iPod+dongle and control the music. A great simple & elegant solution.

I found out most about this from speaking with the Dynaudio guys at Bristol, they were very helpful. I also went to speak with Sennheiser but they had not heard of their dongle being used for anything other than with their headphones.

Note, you need to ensure your bluetooth source supports APT-X. My laptop doesn't, so it works but the sound quality is poor.

Hope this helps anybody still watching this post.

 

[AlmaataKZ]

Does it mean that Chord has updated the Gem but not calling it Gem 2 or mark II and is just selling it like this keepng it quite and smae price? Are they offering upgrades of the old ones? If they are not I would not be impressed with Chord customer relations. I would think they are a reputable company and would not do that.

If 16/44 from ipod touch via bluetooth is possible that would be very good. If only this could be confirmed by Chord (and starting from which serial number) - information on Gem specs is nowhere to be found

 

[Craig M.]

16/44.1 is possible from itouch over bluetooth, i just needed to update the o.s. on the ipod first. customer service not great from chord though, i emailed them with a query about the bluetooth streaming - no response, if someone had spent 3k on my wares they would have got an immediate reply.

 

[peter@57m]

Yes, still called Chordette Gem, still same price. I was contacted by the shop where I had just bought it and told of the upgrade and that they would swap it for a new one with APT-X. Credit to Unilett of New Malden for great customer service. Believe the other stock units are going back to Chord for the upgrade which I suspect is a software upgrade rather than hardware upgrade but don't know for sure.

The new Gem I received however has an APT-X logo on the bottom. I believe at one time Chord were going to charge more for the APT-X version, hence needed to be able to differentiate them. Then they made the decision just to include it on all models so don't know whether the logo will be on all future models.

I struggled to find out information about the protocols being used by Chord. The link in one of the posts above to the APT-X sites gives the most information. I Googled aptx to find it, but you do have to search this information out.

At one point I emailed Chord, who replied quickly, stating that I could get the Gem updated for under £20 pounds including return postage. So if you have a non APT-X one and want to upgrade you should contact Chord or I assume you could do it through the shop where you bought it. Having used both, the difference on bluetooth is very significant. This assumes, of course, the sending device supports APT-X as well and you are not using compressed files.

Judging by the quality I would say it is 16/44.1as APT-X state. I like its bluetooth rather that wifi. In my house at least its the only buetooth device used wheras there are 2 desktops and 3 laptops using wifi. So the Gem will get dedicated bandwith.

 

[peter@57m]

A quick update on the Chordette Gem

Performance is still improving after a week of use (has been driven 24/7). I have seen several reviews saying it takes a week to start sounding good and 2 weeks will sound even better.

Reason for this post is I have been using Apple Lossless as the format on the iPod and although good it was certainly missing some definition in the basss and space in the mid and highs.

Tried ripping a few CDs as WAV in iTunes and compared these back to back with the AAC ones, the WAV files sound much better. So if you are using the APT-X version of the Gem and want the best quality, try WAV instead of Apple Lossless.

I cannot explain why, perhaps somebody else can. I'm not sure what happens to an Apple Lossless file in the iPod when it goess to the Sennheiser donle. Does the iPod unpack it? And perhaps it does not have to do this with the WAV?

Once it leave the iPod in goes to the dngle which I assume does the A2DP/APT-X conversion.

I'd love to see an explanation of what happens on the path from the iPod to the outputs of the Gem, i.e. what companent carries out what function as it goes from WAV to the Sennheiser through A2DP, APT-X to the Gem and finally out as analogue.

None of Apple, Sennheiser or Chord seem to provide any details

 

[AlmaataKZ]

Thank you for all the info - I will try to get my Gem updated. I too do not like this lack of info from te manufacturers. The units are not cheap and the companies involved have good reputations so why keep customers in the dark?